So I've worked at a large grocery store for almost 2 years, and got the job 4 months after my 16th birthday. Prior to this I had been suffering with severe depression and anxiety and wasn't particularly good with handling myself around other people. Being the optimist I am, I decided a job in retail would help this, and although it has; this one experience really sticks with me.

So it must have happened no more than three months after I started, and being the awkward, anxiety ridden person I was, I waited until it was dead for me to pop to the loo, due to having held it in for at least an hour or so. Just as I jump off my till an older lady comes up to me with a very large trolley. I politely inform her that I was just jumping off but that my colleague one till away would be able to serve her, due to the quietness of the store.

As I come back from the toilet I see her talking to customer services and think nothing of it. Not ten minutes after jumping back on my till, my manager comes up to me and reprimands me for being rude and obnoxious towards a customer.

It still baffles me how the words "Sorry, I'm just jumping off the till, but there's an empty till just there." Can be misconstrued as being impolite.